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Switched my stance on using water-cooled vs air-cooled cupolas after that meltdown at work last Thursday
Honestly I always thought water-cooled cupolas were overkill for our shop, but we had a runner freeze up on the 3pm shift and the lining cracked in two spots near the tap hole. Took us 4 hours to dig out slag and patch it with a dry ram mix from a supplier in Akron. Has anyone else had better luck with water-cooled setups for high-tonnage runs or am I just unlucky?
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rosepark13d ago
Honestly that bit about the lining cracking near the tap hole hit close to home. My buddy Mike at a place in Gary had the same thing happen on a Friday night and they had to call in a crew from two counties over to help with the emergency patch. He said it was a nightmare because the slag was still hot and they couldn't get a good seal on the dry ram mix for like two hours. He swears by water-cooled now just for the peace of mind even though he still hates the extra maintenance. Ngl hearing his story made me appreciate your description of digging out slag for four hours, that's just brutal.
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david_palmer12d agoTop Commenter
@rosepark yeah dry ram mix is a nightmare when it's still hot, you gotta let it cool way longer than you think or it just won't bite. Water-cooled saves your ass but I switched to a thicker mica gasket under the tap hole and it stopped the cracking on my end, less hassle than full water cooling.
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the_faith12d ago
Is it really that big of a deal though? Seems like a lot of hassle and extra plumbing for something that might just be a one time thing. Couldn't you just stock a few extra dry ram kits and call it good?
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